In answer to the video "Sin and Salvation, Part 5 - Paradise in Islam"
Adam and Eve were always meant to go to the earth, prior to even their creation. In God's plan they were meant to be His temporary trustees on the earth, not in Heaven, and as mortals who would live and die on the "turab" from which they originated 2:30,35:39,38:71. It is precisely this aspect of their nature, their mortality, that Iblis seized upon to lure them into transgression, promising them immortality 7:20,20:120.
Humanity's goal was thus always to live on earth, Adam ad Eve's garden was therefore a temporary abode, just like the world outside the garden where they and their descendants are meant to exercise their vicegerency for a decreed time until they are returned to Allah for account.
After the incident of the tree, their sincere repentance and God's forgiveness they were not kept in the Garden but sent to earth through a reiteration of the order to leave the garden that was stated prior to their repentance 2:36-8. Their repentance was accepted and they were nevertheless made to leave the garden, meaning it was not by way of punishment but as a matter of course. Had not the order to leave been repeated after their repentance was accepted, one would have erroneously concluded that Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden because of their mistake. The couple being expelled from the garden had therefore nothing to do with a fall at all, and was God's plan from the beginning as demonstrated earlier.
The garden was thus an earthly transition place where man got acquainted with his self and his future responsibilities resulting from his capacity of freewill, this is why Iblis was allowed to play a part in it and why temptation was made possible.
After they ate from the tree and saw that their condition didnt change as promised to them by Iblis (they didnt become immortal angels), Adam and Eve realized their transgression as often happens when a sincere person comes back to his senses after a mistake or a sin, or when caught doing something wrong. They realized the importance of God's advise in regards to Iblis. Iblis was certainly not their well wisher as he was trying to portray himself. He had instead deceived them into inappropriately showing their nakedness
7:20-2"So, the shaytan whispered/waswasa to the two of them..And he swore to them both: Most surely I am a sincere adviser to you. So, he lured/fadallahuma them with falsehood.."
4:120"He gives them promises and excites vain desires in them; and the Shaitan does not promise them but to deceive".
From a linguistic perspective, dallahuma stems from d-l-w used for the dangling of the bucket in a well to pull out water from it. It implies the anticipation of good results since succeeding in getting water is a good result and good expectation. It is also used in the context of animal hunting, slowly making it approach, attracted by a bucket at the end of a rope which is progressively drawn closer. Through the use of this word, as well as of waswasa, what transpires is that Iblis' deception succeeded only after many persistent and gradual exhortation.
As their senses came back to them, they realized what his true purpose was, and now knowing that the exposition of one's private parts is an unnatural, evil inspired deed, began immediately piling up tree leaves upon themselves and sewing them
7:22"he mislead them through deceit; so when they tasted of the tree, their private parts became manifest to them, and they began to cover themselves with pieced-together leaves from the garden".As stated in the HB
Gen3:7"And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves and made themselves girdles".They were then called out and confronted for their transgression
7:22"Did I not forbid you both from that tree and say to you that the Shaitan is your open enemy?".
They were told that although they had now lost all advantages they had in the garden in regards to general physical comfort, they would still find provision on the Earth until an appointed time 2:36,7:24. Adam and Eve accepted the consequences of their disobedience and took on themselves the full responsibility of their act, and immediately asked God to forgive them 7:23. In the Bible, they began immaturely fingerpointing eachother and refused to repent after which God banished them from the Garden.
They were forgiven without delay as denoted with the particle "fa" 2:37, and told again to leave the garden, that they and their future generations will find outside of it the proper divine guidance to recover the state of spiritual happiness they have lost 2:38,20:123. From a linguistic perspective it is also worthwhile to note the use of talaqqa in 2:37 in regards to the guidance of Adam. It is a word denoting a pleasant encounter, it is used in the Quran in the context of the angels receiving the righteous' soul at death and also welcoming the dwellers of heaven. This further stresses that God did not resent Adam following the incident, Adam met his Creator with pleasant words.
This sums up the Creator's interaction with the first human vicegerents.
It is important noting, the Quran repeatedly says both Adam and his wife were simultaneously mislead, by Iblis and not by oneanother 7:20. It even specifically points to Adam's misguidance 20:120 while it never mentions his wife alone in that context. The prophet said
"were it not for Eve, no woman would ever betray her husband".
It is always important not to try and read too much into a quote made a very long time ago, detached from its direct context. Especially if it is done in ignorance of the established patterns related to the subject, as are found in the Quran and the vast corpus of ahadith. The statement doesnt say what was the nature of Eve's betrayal although it is assumed it has to do with the incident of the tree. It doesnt speak of ingrained sinfulness or bad behavior, neither does it generalize Eve's action as affecting all women. It simply says, if a woman betrays her husband then it is somehow connected to Eve's betrayal of Adam. We will never establish the chain of events linking our current experiences and actions all the way to Adam and Eve. But this hadith tells us the connection exists. Eve established a pattern that was perpetrated to all her female descendants, the same way one learns a behavior from his parents, who got it from their parents and so on.
No blame or anger were expressed on anyone or anything, following their repentance and complete forgiveness. No curses were inflicted as senselessly allegedly done by God in the Biblical account, much less on women Gen3.
The Quran for example strikes right at the idea of the process of pregnancy being a cursed punishment, simply through its wording, calling the womb "al-rahm". The word stems from the same root describing God's most manifest attribute of rahman. The throes of pregnancy or childbirth, if experienced, arent in anyway an evil punishment, just like other physical processes involving pain that humans may experience everyday arent curses. Although the pain of labor is what most women worry about, it actually is an important component of childbirth. It incites women to find their own ways of facilitating birth, instinctively guiding the laboring woman into positions and activities in response to what she feels, increasing the strength and efficiency of the contractions and encouraging the baby to settle in and move down the birth canal, protecting the muscles of the birth canal and perineum anf the baby as he is born.
When the pain is entirely removed, the feedback system is disrupted and labor is likely to slow down and become less efficient, besides the other known complications of suppressing it using modern techniques such as an epidural injection. As labor progresses and pain increases, endorphins (much more potent than morphine) are released in increasing amounts. The result is a natural, not total, decrease in pain perception.
On the other hand, the rising level of endorphins also contributes to a shift from a thinking, rational mind-set to a more instinctive one. Endorphins create a dream-like state, which actually helps women manage the tasks of birthing. Inner experiences become more important than the external environment. As labor progresses and the pain of labor increases, women “go into themselves,” become much less aware and, at the same time, much more focused on the work of labor, and are able to tap into an inner, instinctive wisdom.
Another angle through which the Quran demonstrates mankind's potential to spiritual success, through this very mistake of Adam and Eve, is by presenting the story also from the perspective of Iblis. His disobedience was due to wilful rebellion, leading him to more obduracy even after his confrontation with God. But Adam and Eve, whose transgression was a mistake immediately felt shame, accepted the consequences of their transgression, took full responsibility for their act and began seeking God's forgiveness.
Consequently, they found God merciful.
Although the Bible casts the major part of the blame on Eve who was deceived first and then tempted Adam 1Tim2:14, thus paving the way for the severe misogynism of Judeo-Christian scriptures, the account in both the Quran and the HB obviously shows it was forgetfulness and negligence that made them disobey God's command
20:115"nasiya/he forgot, and We found no firmness of purpose in him".
What both Adam and his wife forgot was God's warning as regards Iblis' intentions towards them "Surely he is your open enemy". They genuinely thought he was their well wisher.
It was not a deliberate act of rebellion and conscious transgression. After their mistake they became of the thalimeen. The word means "to oppress" and it is used in the Quran for oppressing another or oppressing oneself. It is the latter that is meant for Adam and Eve. In Quran terminology, all sins, deliberate or not, are considered a harm to the self. It was not rebellion that made Adam and Eve sin. Their subsequent feelings of shame and remorse even before God confronted them testifies to this fact (contrary to the example in 2:54).
Allah Himself states it was forgetfulness of his warning that lead them to be prone to Iblis' whisperings. Their sin was not preceded by repeated and wilful transgressions, revealing a rebellious tendency, as seen in 6:44,32:14. All this reinforces the fact that their transgression was unintentional and the Quran declares that unintentional sins are mistakes 2:225,33:5.
This paralells with the OT's account of the incident that eating from the tree was not a deliberate sin, but a mistake (cheit).
God was thus demonstrating the eternal enmity between Iblis and mankind. The fundamental method in which the will would have to assert itself for a human being is by defeating his evil suggestions
20:117"O Adam! This is an enemy to you and to your wife; therefore let him not drive you both forth from the garden so that you should be unhappy".
God is warning them, He does not want them to leave the Garden *through the satan's deception* because it would result in a state of spiritual unhappiness 2:36,38. Iblis only desires that they live in a state of unhappiness and misery, the inevitable result of disobedience to God. But the Merciful declares that even in this life of toil on earth for which mankind was originally made, they can achieve the very happiness that they had in the garden. What causes happiness in this world is following the guidance laid down by God and constantly remembering Him
13:28,22:77,64:16,20:123"..then whoever follows My guidance, he shall not go astray nor be unhappy".As to misogyny, nothing in Islam remotely resembles what is found in Judeo-Christian texts and traditions, whose background is, as already stated, the events of the garden painting Eve as the first to sin, then leading Adam to sin, and because of that was condemned to be "restrained" through subjection to the rule of her husband forever Gen3. Prior to the modern era, that notion was interpreted as warranting physical punishment for marital disobedience, in both Jewish and Christian traditions. In Christian texts, through the writings attributed to Paul, male rulership is associated with physical coercion in case of disobedience. This includes disobedience of subjects to their ruler, slaves to their masters, children to their fathers, and by obvious analogy, wives to their husbands. Rom13:1-5,Titus2:9-10,Eph6:5,Heb12:5-11,1Tim3:4,Ex21:20-21,Prov23:13-14,20:30,13:24 etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment